TARGET FIXATION, THE ANGLER'S CURSE - EOTG - July 6, 2015

TARGET FIXATION, THE ANGLER'S CURSE






I arrived on my favorite spring creek to spend a few hours experimenting with some modified fly patterns that I had been toying with and I had in mind a specific stretch of the creek to fish. But the best laid plans tend to go awry and the stretch I had picked was already occupied. I noticed that the angler was already entering the stream and the trout were beginning to feed as the hatch began. I watched the angler select a pattern, tie it on and began to cast to a feeding trout which was positioned above the angler. However he was ignoring the several trout that were feeding directly across from his position and there were several feeding trout just below his position which were also ignored. By now his actions had caught my interest and I stayed to watch his progression through the fish that were feeding and how he would handle the numerous trout that were feeding in his general area.